Robert Napper Killed Again After Rachel Nickell, Know The Serial Killer’s Crimes And Where He Is Now

The horrifying true story of British model Rachel Nickell’s murder has gotten the world talking once again. Nearly 35 years after she was stabbed to death in broad daylight, a new generation is looking back at the unspeakable atrocities of Rachel’s death that unfolded in front of her 2-year-old son. 

Netflix’s latest true-crime releases, The Witness and The Murder of Rachel Nickell, are now shining a spotlight on the man who escaped conviction for 16 years after Rachel’s death: Robert Napper. The serial killer didn’t stop at Rachel Nickell, he killed and assaulted two more until he was finally caught.

Who is Robert Napper?

What people didn’t know back then, Rachel Nickell’s killer was not an ordinary attacker. He would go on a killing spree that began with the 23-year-old mother. He is now known as a convicted serial killer and rapist who terrorized women across southeast London during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before he was linked to Rachel Nickell’s murder, Napper had already been connected to a string of violent sexual assaults known as the “Green Chain” attacks.

Investigators later linked him to dozens of rapes and assaults, with some reports suggesting he may have targeted more than 70 women. Despite so many warning signs, including endless reports from the public, and even concerns raised by his own mother, Robert managed to repeatedly escape arrest, slipping through cracks of the investigation. 

The murder of Rachel Nickell

On July 15, 1992, Rachel Nickell was walking through Wimbledon Common with her two-year-old son Alex and their dog when she was ambushed in broad daylight. Rachel was sexually assaulted and stabbed 49 times in a frenzied assault that dominated headlines for decades. When the attack was over, Alex remained beside his mother’s body, too young to fully understand what had happened.

According to witness accounts, the toddler picked up banknotes that had fallen from Rachel’s pocket and tried to hand them back to her. He even placed one note across her blood-stained face, seemingly hoping it would help wake her up. A passerby eventually found him sitting beside his mother’s body, covered in mud and blood, with minor injuries under his eye and the rest of his face.

Why Robert Napper was convicted 16 years after Rachel Nickell’s murder

Rachel Nickell‘s murder triggered one of Britain’s largest and most controversial investigations. With DNA technology still developing in 1992 and little forensic evidence available, detectives struggled to identify a suspect. The only eyewitness was Rachel’s two-year-old son, Alex, whose limited recollections offered few leads. Police initially suspected a local dog walker, Colin Stagg, based on witness testimony and Alex’s description of the killer.

While authorities didn’t have any physical evidence against Stagg, his twisted psychology to use women for his disturbing fantasies, along with suspicious things found in his home, including knives, a survival kit, occult symbols, and explicit content, made them interpret it as signs of violent or deviant tendencies. He surprisingly looked very much like the suspect’s sketched face.

The police also staged a highly controversial “honey trap” to lure Stagg into trying to make similar moves and seduce a confession out of him. In the Netflix documentary, he can be seen in the interrogation clip saying “no comment” to every question the investigators asked him about his disturbing letters and his alleged involvement in Rachel Nickell’s murder. He was ultimately charged in 1993, but a judge later dismissed the case, rebuking the police tactics. Collin was cleared after 13 months of custody.